Custom keymap not applying

Hi all! I’m in need of some help with a custom keymap. i’m on KDE w/ wayland.

localectl status

VC Keymap: keytweaks
X11 Layout: us
X11 Variant: colemak_dh_wide_iso

this layout variant gets me most of what i want. i tried to set a custom keymap in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps to just overwrite the parts i want to change, but it has no effect, neither with loadkeys nor as part of /etc/vconsole.conf

Any thoughts?

cat keytweaks.map

keymaps 0-3
keycode 7 = minus underscore
keycode 9 = six asciicircum
keycode 10 = seven ampersand
keycode 11 = eight asterisk
keycode 12 = nine parenleft
keycode 13 = zero parenright
keycode 22 = j J U+00fa U+00da
keycode 23 = l L U+00f3 U+00d3
keycode 24 = u U U+00f9 U+00d9
keycode 27 = numbersign asciitilde
keycode 30 = a A U+00e0 U+00c0
keycode 38 = e E U+00e8 U+00c8
keycode 39 = i I U+00ec U+00cc
keycode 40 = o O U+00f2 U+00d2
keycode 46 = d D U+00e9 U+00c9
keycode 49 = slash question
keycode 50 = k K U+00ed U+00cd
keycode 86 = z Z U+00e1 U+00c1
sudo loadkeys -v keytw*
Loading keytweaks.map
keycode 7, table 0 = 45
keycode 9, table 0 = 54
keycode 10, table 0 = 55
keycode 11, table 0 = 56
keycode 12, table 0 = 57
keycode 13, table 0 = 48
keycode 22, table 0 = 106
keycode 23, table 0 = 108
keycode 24, table 0 = 117
keycode 27, table 0 = 35
keycode 30, table 0 = 97
keycode 38, table 0 = 101
keycode 39, table 0 = 105
keycode 40, table 0 = 111
keycode 46, table 0 = 100
keycode 49, table 0 = 47
keycode 50, table 0 = 107
keycode 86, table 0 = 122
keycode 7, table 1 = 95
keycode 9, table 1 = 94
keycode 10, table 1 = 38
keycode 11, table 1 = 42
keycode 12, table 1 = 40
keycode 13, table 1 = 41
keycode 22, table 1 = 74
keycode 23, table 1 = 76
keycode 24, table 1 = 85
keycode 27, table 1 = 126
keycode 30, table 1 = 65
keycode 38, table 1 = 69
keycode 39, table 1 = 73
keycode 40, table 1 = 79
keycode 46, table 1 = 68
keycode 49, table 1 = 63
keycode 50, table 1 = 75
keycode 86, table 1 = 90
keycode 22, table 2 = 250
keycode 23, table 2 = 243
keycode 24, table 2 = 249
keycode 30, table 2 = 224
keycode 38, table 2 = 232
keycode 39, table 2 = 236
keycode 40, table 2 = 242
keycode 46, table 2 = 233
keycode 50, table 2 = 237
keycode 86, table 2 = 225
keycode 22, table 3 = 218
keycode 23, table 3 = 211
keycode 24, table 3 = 217
keycode 30, table 3 = 192
keycode 38, table 3 = 200
keycode 39, table 3 = 204
keycode 40, table 3 = 210
keycode 46, table 3 = 201
keycode 50, table 3 = 205
keycode 86, table 3 = 193

Changed 56 keys
Changed 0 strings
(No change in compose definitions)

i’m starting to think this isn’t the right approach at all.

do i instead edit /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/us directly? is there a better way to approach this?

Don’t know if this will be what you want but in KDE you can go to system settings>keyboard and if you click on the option on the top right of the window you will find a lot of different settings.

thanks, i’m aware. not quite granular enough for my goal.

yeah, looks like it’s X11 xkb editing instead.

https://rlog.rgtti.com/2014/05/01/how-to-modify-a-keyboard-layout-in-linux/